Police Offer Personal Safety Seminar

Program Began After Shooting, Assault

August 14, 2007|By EDWARD J. JACOVINO; Courant Staff Writer

FARMINGTON — A free personal safety seminar for women is being offered this fall by the town police department, which began the program 12 years ago shortly after a shooting and sexual assault in a local real estate office.

The workshops will be held on four consecutive Tuesdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., starting Oct. 2, Officer Susan DiVenere said Monday. Numerous officers will participate.

``We've had a number of calls already from women interested in this program,'' said DiVenere, who helped launch the seminars in 1995. The very first classes -- planned earlier in the year -- were held shortly after a convict mistakenly released from prison due to a clerical error burst into a Farmington real estate company, shot a man and sexually assaulted a woman before escaping with the victims' valuables.

Ryan Testa, of Bristol, who was 23 at the time, was convicted and is now serving a prison sentence of 24 1/2 years prison sentence.

The classes this fall cover home and work safety, basic self-defense, protecting against sexual assault, and witness training. The program is open to women and girls 16 and older.

There are about 50 slots in the class. Women who have taken the course in past years range from senior citizens to stay-at-home mothers, college-age women and women who attend with their teen daughters to learn how to take care of themselves.

``We did hear from one woman who'd taken the course, who knew what to do when she heard suspicious noises downstairs in her house,'' DiVenere said.

Classes will be in the Yates Community Room at police headquarters.

Early registration is encouraged as seats usually fill quickly.

To register or to get more information, call DiVenere at 860 675-2431 or email her at diveneres@farmington-ct.org.